Tales from The All Night Bucket Buffet

The other morning, while getting the kids ready for school, John said, "Look, there's a skunk in the compost bucket!" Our compost rarely, if ever, makes it to a "pile," it just sits in buckets on our back porch for all the forest animals to help themselves to. Anyway, I freaked out a little because I have a thing about skunks and their aromas. I haven't been directly sprayed before, but I have had one spray near me and it left an impression. I'll tell that story another time.

The whole family gathered at the window to look on the back porch and this is what we saw...


Now, I ask you, is that not the cutest living thing you've ever seen? For a minute there, I forgot what we were dealing with. As soon as the kids start cooing over it, you could tell it got a little nervous and tried to scramble from the bucket.


Insert heaving noises here and imagine if you had to pull yourself up out of a deep pit. Now imagine that pit was full of your most favorite food and you had been eating it all night long. He almost made it out a couple of times but he just couldn't get his behind up over the edge. Boy, do I feel for him.


I didn't even notice that Elliott had gone outside the front door and around the house to try to rescue him. Stinky looked at him as if to say, "Excuse me sir, but would you be kind enough to help me. I'm in a bit of a jam." Normally I would use my best Pepe Le Pew voice for a skunk, but for some reason I think this skunk has a British accent.


Now my husband, we'll just call him McGyver for now, is a very handy fellow. He takes care of his wife who doesn't like the smell of skunks. That's a rope he's trying to loop over the bucket. Watch how he saves the day.


He's got the rope around the bucket and now he's going to gently slide it across the porch so as not to alarm the little stinker. And sorry about that view. If you could just imagine that all that junk is gone and while you're at it, imagine there's a swimming pool there in that sea of grass, that would make me feel a little less embarrassed. Thanks.


You know, somehow I think he knew that he was being rescued. He just poked his head out and enjoyed the ride.


Here's where it got a little dicey. Elliott had to pull the bucket back really fast to tip it over and then get the heck outta dodge.


Freeeeeedooooooom! That skunk laid right there in that position for several seconds and then he got up and waddled off.

Guess we'd better move the All Night Bucket Buffet a little farther from the house.